V F W

Directed by: Joe Begos

Starring: Stephen Lang, Fred Willaimson, William Sadler, Martin Kove, George Wendt, Sierra McCormick, Tom Williamson, Travis Hammer

Set in a dystopian, alternative 1980s, in a city overrun by a new highly addictive drug. Former soldier Fred Parras runs a bar for Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW). As Fred and his fellow veterans prepare to celebrate his birthday, a young girl called Lizard runs in, chased by some violent psycho gang members. After a quick bloody battle, the old soldiers realise they have a bigger fight on their hands - Lizard had just stolen a load of drugs from the local drug lord, Boz, and he won't stop til he gets his merchandise back….

Joe Begos is a name that, if you are a fan of horror movies, you need to be aware of, one of the genre's auteurs, following in the footsteps of Cronenberg and Carpenter. His latest film continues in the vein of producing action beats in the midst of gory violence.

The VFW bar is set in an urban area which has gone to hell. The neighborhood is riddled with gang graffiti and addicts desperate for the new drug. The squat looking buildiing looks like a small fortress which is just as well because the police no longer patrol the area. Along with Freddy, we also meet Walter, Abe, Lou, Doug and Thomas, all veterans who either fought alongside Freddy or have been patrons of the bar for a long time, all swapping war stories and little in-jokes. Luckily the film has an audience surrogate in the shape of Shawn Mason, just arrived back in the US from active duty and still in uniform. Thanks to his presence, the others have to elaborate on the details of their stories more, making them more coherent to us and bringing us inside their tight circle. The script by first time writers Max Brallier and Matthew McArdle gives us enough time to familiarize ourselves with the group of protagonists while at the same time start to ramp up the tension.

Elsewhere, we have Boz, the local dug lord who's allowing his brother to set up the sale of a lot of bricks. The trouble with the drug is that although it's highly addictive like a super-cocaiine, the withdrawal symptoms are so severe they turn you into a violent psychotic whose only thoughts are to get high again. When we see some of Boz's men re-enter his hideout, they are having to kill a guy who rushes in after them. Boz is able to weaponize these addicts though when Lizard steals the bricks and high-tails it to the VFW.

What is impressive is how quickly the veterans react when the gang members stride in to get Lizard. Lots of people would be caught unawares, but these guys react quickly when one of their number takes an axe to the chest. It’s a nasty bloody fight and a sure sign of what's to come. It always gives me a thrill when the badguys underestimate the opposition, either through arrogance, ignorance or both, and get their asses handed to them. This delivers such a situation, leaving Boz to wonder what the hell just happened.

Acting swiftly to an immediate threat is one thing, knowing what to do next is something different altogether. Luckily, Freddy slips back into his sergeant role, naturally taking charge and motivating his men and directing them. Which essentially leads them to A-Teaming their bar, setting boobytraps and improvising weapons.  Fans of the A Team will love this sequence.

The cast is great, especially the veterans. Stephen Lang has fast become one of my favourite actors after originally seeing him in Avatar and then discovering the plethora of other films he's starred in (you may recall him as the antagonist in Don't Breathe, for example). Alongside him we have William Saddler ( Die Hard 2, Shawshank Redemption), Martin Kove (The Karate Kid) and Fred Williamson (From Dusk Til Dawn) - all get their moments to bring it, especially Williamson who decides to use the drug for himself.

Unfortunately the same amount of care has been paid to the badguys who are mostly a faceless mob of psycho addicts. Boz is relatively menacing in his own right, and he does get a nasty "just how evil is this guy?" moment early on when he lures a girl to fall to her death (the instigating moment of the events in the film, as the girl was Lizard's sister).Boz's main role is to throw wave after wave of minions at the bar.

THE VERDICT

As with some of Joe Begos' other films, this riffs heavily off other directors' works while still delivering something unique. This is a very violent, entertaining siege movie so obviously there are going to be comparisons to Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13 (among others) but those are more likely to be favourable than not. The only place this film really trips up is with the cinematography which for a few early scenes leaves the picture so dark as to not be able to see what is going on. Regardless, this is highly recommended and you are urged to check out Begos' previous films also.

8 our of 10 RECOMMENDED

MikeOutWest

 VFW iS AVAILABLE NOW ON VOD AND STREAMING MEDIA SITES, AND WILL BE ON DVD AND BLU RAY FROM 6th APRIL 2020